396 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of the new sachems — the impeachment and deposition of three un- 

 faithful sachems — the elevation of others in their stead, and the 

 performance of the various ceremonies attendant upon these pro- 

 ceedings, consumed the principal part of the afternoon. At the 

 setting of the sun, a bountiful repast, consisting of an innumerable 

 number of rather formidable looking chunks of boiled fresh beef, 

 and an abundance of bread and succotash, was brought into the 

 council house. The manner of saying grace on this occasion was 

 indeed peculiar. A kettle being brought, hot and smoking from 

 the fire, and placed in the center of the council house, there pro- 

 ceeded from a single person, in a high shrill key, a prolonged and 

 monotonous sound, resembling that of the syllable wah or yah. 

 This was immediately followed by a response from the whole mul- 

 titude, uttering in a low and profoundly guttural but protracted 

 tone, the syllable zvhe or szve, and this concluded grace. Schoolcraft, 

 p. 228 



There is no mourning council on record half as long as that 

 imagined by Mr Morgan, and his account of the one in 1847 would 

 suffice for the one attended by the writer in 1903. Indeed in early 

 days the installation of a chief seems to have been a very brief and 

 simple ceremony, not necessarily connected with the mourning 

 council. Certain usages had been linked with the latter, as when 

 some Cayugas said, in 1697 : " You know our custom is to con- 

 dole the dead by wampum." Then they began to look for the ap- 

 proval of the French and English colonists. Two Onondaga 

 sachems had died without the customary notice of death to the 

 English, and at a council in 1698 the speaker said: 



That before the approvement of this government they could nor 

 would not choose any other in their room, they had already ac- 

 quainted the other nations. The Lieut. Gov. according to the usual 

 ceremonies gave a bunch of wampum, condoling the sachems' loss, 

 and approving what choice they should make among themselves. 



In June, 1701, the Onondagas informed the French and English 

 that they had lost one of their chief captains, and appointed another 

 with the same name, giving each of the other nations a bunch of 

 wampum. The Cayugas made a similar announcement with 

 bunches of wampum. At a council in 1737, those present wished 

 the business deferred for a short time, " because they would this day 

 condole the death of the two sachems who lately died, according to 

 the ancient custom of their ancestors, and until that was done they 

 were like children under age, who can not act in public affairs.*' 



